


Heartbeats

by Kiwibirdlafayette



Series: Tales from the the Arcadia Oaks Band [1]
Category: Trollhunters (Cartoon)
Genre: AU backstory, Colorguard AU, Dorks in Love, Human AU, Its a marching band AU, M/M, aaarrrgghh/arthur is trans, because we all thats all i write, but backstory, drum major blinky, fluffy dancing, specifically rocki’s marching band au, trollhunters au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-08
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-05-20 00:31:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14884184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiwibirdlafayette/pseuds/Kiwibirdlafayette
Summary: After rehearsal antics of the resident disaster drum major, and his boyfriend, overly excited colorguard boy(Mini oneshot for fun because the marching band AU is my life atm)





	Heartbeats

**Author's Note:**

> I needed to step away from IWAY and Perceptions for a hot sec and since I’ve been living and breathing Rocky’s Marching Band AU I figured why not write just a tiny oneshot about Blinky and Arthur from when they were in high school 
> 
> I couldn’t exactly determine exactly when they’d be in high school so I just estimated 1970s/1980s?? 
> 
> And shoutout to my pal Cal for giving me a song to use because heck I don’t know a lot of music lmao

_“Keep to the tempo. That’s all that counts.”_

Rehearsal was over for the day, much to the relief of the majority of the ensemble. Most of the students, save for the congregating colorguard, had already gone home, giving the drum major some much needed practice time. Blinky turned on the small CD player in the office, which, conveniently, already had the show music loaded into it from earlier in the day.

Conducting wasn’t a skill set that had come to the young percussionist all that easily. Sure, drumming was all about keeping rhythm on behalf of the band, but that was behind a drum, working in tandem with your fellow sectionmates.

Being drum major however? Absolutely nothing like that. Sure, if you missed an eighth note, chances were someone else would pick it up for you. But you misconduct? Surely, the whole show was bound to fall apart.

When he was up on the podium, Blinky was sure to put on a face of utter confidence and sureness in oneself, when internally, he had to put every bit of energy into ensuring that each beat was put in its correct place. No falters, no incorrect movements. 

_Precise_. That’s how it had to be.

After about the third repetition, Blinky watched as the guard went to put away their equipment, their conversations coming muffled through the office window. Minutes passed, and slowly, one by one, individuals exited the room, heading back to their homes for the night to either lie in solace or stress over uncompleted homework assignments due the following day (he himself had gotten all that done the day prior in anticipation of the rehearsal) 

Soon, give or take a few minutes, the clock struck 6 o’clock, and the band room was now mostly empty, save for _Arthur._

Arthur, having become a member of the guard this year, was perhaps the only person whom Blinky could ever confide in. Unlike most of his fellow students the occupied the role of “colorguard member”, Arthur is one who much more soft spoken when it came to guard related discussion, making him much less annoying. 

His interest at first in the newcomer last year had primarily to do with the _obvious crush he had on him_ that anyone with eyes could see from miles away. This of course, made it incredibly difficult to focus on conducting when all of Arthur’s sets placed him at the front of the field, where he would make direct eye contact with the flustered drum major. More often than not, Blinky attributes his terrible conducting that season to these happenings. Arthur wouldn’t say it wasn’t flirting, but Blinky certainly knew it was. There were definitely days he had felt like telling Arthur not to come to rehearsal, simply so he could focus on the task at hand. 

After all, nothing made him gayer for someone than Arthur did tossing a triple in front of the podium. 

However, he did find himself quite fortunate that the feelings happened to be mutual and that it didn’t turn into some three year mutual pining where romantic tensions were left unresolved when one graduated. 

Blinky glanced through the office window, momentarily forgetting about the music he was practicing to, hoping to catch the eye of the person of his affections. It wasn’t out of the ordinary that the weapon line’s newest member would stay behind until the band room was locked before deciding the extent to which he practiced was good enough. 

Arthur turned to see Blinky through the window and waved. “Oh you’re still here!”

Blinky rolled his eyes, and paused the music, leaving them in an eerie, yet calming silence. “Why yes, I mean, someone’s gotta lock up the room.” He stepped out of the office, fingers interlaced behind his back. “Besides, weren’t we walking home together again?”

Arthur nodded, resting a forearm on the nose of the rifle. “Ah, right. Say, Ms. K was wondering if you’ve figured out your dance solo thing, that uh, Mr. Merlin wanted you to do with the guard.”

“Oh goodness. I’ve forgotten about that.”

“Tch’ of course you would.”

Blinky hit his arm, nearly knocking the rifle onto the floor. He chuckled,blushing slightly. 

“Well, I told you when he first assigned it to me- I don’t care much for, I can’t dance.”

Arthur rolled his eyes. “Liar. You danced at the banquet last year.”

“That does not count.” Blinky turned around, walking back into the office to slide the keys off the desk. _Now watch. He’s probably going to turn on some damn music and try to get him to- Oh yup._

When Blinky had turned back around, Arthur had already pulled out the boombox from the guard closet, sliding what looked to be a cassette tape consisting of who knew what. Blinky had never given Arthur’s mixtape a listen before, but knew, just from past experience, to expect only the most unexpected.

Cause, well, Arthur sure had an interesting taste in most things. 

Blinky gave Arthur a perturbed look. “You’re, uh, not serious, are you?” He put his left hand in fist behind his back as he marched back over to Arthur, swinging the keys in his right. “It’s not going to happen.” Against his better judgement, he walked right up to Arthur, getting so close as that the top of his hair brushed up against the underneath of the taller boy’s chin. _But, of course he wasn’t flustered. Good god, was there anything that would fluster this completely perfect boy?_

_Perfect. Why, was there any other word that could describe just how impeccable he was? His face, his smile, goodness, his talent on the field, his talent in-_

_God, was he glad he wasn’t saying any of these thoughts out loud. Because, if he had been-_

Blinky’s thoughts were cut abruptly as Arthur chuckled, looking down at the brazenly flustered drum major, obliviously now leaning against him with that unwaveringly cute smile _Blinky could just never get enough of._ Blinky backed up ever so slightly, still tightly gripping the keys in his hand. “Anyway.. As much as I love you, I _really_ must get back to practicing 

The beginning of _Elton John’s ‘Your Song’_ began to fill the hall of the bandroom, resonating through the mostly emptiness (save for the stand racks and chairs). He leaned over to move the rifle to the side, a soft smile spreading across his face. 

“Don’t think y’need it, but sure… I’ll teach you how to dance.”

Like the franticness of mallets running down a xylophone, Blinky’s heart started to race as Arthur took one of his hands. He felt his face turn red as the show flags from last year. _God, Did he really have to do this?_ He felt the tension begin to spread throughout his entire body.

“Thanks, but-”

Before he could finish, Arthur pointed his right leg back into tendu, and bowed 18th century style. Blinky’s shoulders started to relax as a strange wave of intrigue came over him.

As the lyrical voice of the singer came on, Arthur, still holding onto Blinky’s hand, opened his arms, going up into relevee. He briefly let go and went into a chaînés turn, swooping around until he ended up on the other side of Blinky, eyelids lowered.

Watching the colorguard was always quite perplexing, but _god was this attractive._ Blinky eyed Arthur in amusement as his emerald hair swept across his face, his mouth lip-syncing along to the music, dancing backwards.

“C’mon you can do it!” 

“Sorry it’s not going to happen, my friend.” Blinky crossed his arms, continually twiddling with the keys, a smirk plastered onto his face. 

Arthur jazz ran around to Blinky, dancing in circles around him. “And why’s that?”

“I don’t know what to do, obviously.”

“Well, that's funny.” Arthur took both of Blinky’s hands, taking the keys out of them and tossing them aside.

Blinky raised a perplexed eyebrow at him, watching the keys fly over to the area near the office door. Typically, one might assume that the next thing he would do was to escape from his boyfriend’s grasp and pick up the goddamn key. However, due to the current situation, that unfortunately was not option at the moment.

“Why is that funny?”

Arthur shrugged his shoulders. “Well, you’re a musician, right?”

“Yes, but I fail to see how this is relevant-”

Arthur came in closer to Blinky, leaning down until their foreheads met, with one foot still pointed backwards. He slowly let go of one hand, instead placing it on Blinky’s shoulder. 

He leaned forwards to the point where his lips barely brushed the tops of Blinky’s ears. “Dancing,” He spoke tenderly, fingers interlacing with Blinky’s. “is just like playing music.”

Following the musical phrases of the gentle melody, and the sweet voice coming through the well-used speakers, Arthur started to direct Blinky in swaying along to the mellow piano. “You’ve got to _feel_ every beat, every phrase, let’cha body _move_ with the music.”

Using one finger to tap the tempo on Blinky’s shoulder, Arthur started to take elegant steps across the laminate wood band room floor, guiding Blinky. “Don’t think about it, just go.”

_Don’t think._

Blinky was already becoming more and more flustered by not only how close Arthur was to him, but the fact that he was actually enjoying this much more than he thought he would have. _Never before in his life had he imagined he’d be dancing so close to someone, especially someone like this colorguard hunk._

He closed his eyes, letting his mind get immersed in steady rhythm of the music, finding it to soon beat in tandem with the pulses of his own heart. 

_It wasn’t about the preciseness. It wasn’t about being robotically placed on each beat. It was about touching each beat with a gesture similar to hands upon a piano, rather than an accented note upon a bass drum._

Soon forgetting about every little meticulous detail he had so often involved himself with, he let himself fall into Arthur’s hold on him as the song continued on. Unlike when he was conducting, there were no barriers, no restraints. He let his feet step in sync with Arthur, soon feeling as if he was gliding across the floor.

For the first time in his life, he truly felt as he could finally love like it was never going to hurt. 

“You’ve got it!” Arthur grinned at him through the hair that had fallen messily over his face. His cheeks flushed a deep red. 

As the song came to an end, the soft flute and guitar sound echoing off into the rafters of the ceiling above, the two young lovers sunk into each others embrace, eventually ending up on the ground with arms around each other.

Blinky looked up at Arthur.“That was really nice. I should take lessons from you more often.”

“Too bad you can’t use that for the show.”

“I sure wish I could. Maybe at prom then?”

Arthur smiled playfully. “A little early to be asking, but sure.”

Blinky’s grinned, his face turning completely red once again. “Well, at least that’s out of the way.”

They giggled as they sat on the floor of band room (a place where they happened to be quite often), leaning against the door of the office. 

“God I hope no one comes back to get something. Don’t want to have to hear about it again.”

Blinky snickered recalling that event. It was perhaps the first time someone had found out about their relationship, warranting the first, and perhaps worst collective band joke of the season at their expense.

“I’m pretty sure we’re the only ones here. Speaking of which, it might be best we take our leave.” He leaned over momentarily to reach over and grab the key, before turning back to face Arthur. “I was supposed to lock up 15 minutes ago.”

“Well, we can go home now.”

Blinky nodded. “Yeah.. I shouldn’t keep Dictatious waiting too long. And you do need to take your binder off, if I remember correctly.”

“Oh jeez that’s right- you remember.”

“Of course I remember. How could I not?”

Arthur reached out and pulled Blinky’s face closer to his, softly caressing the side of his face. “Maybe that’s why I love you so much. You remember everythin.”

Blinky put his hand up to meet Arthurs. “Aw, that’s sweet.”

“I love you, Mr. Drum Major.”

“I love you too, Mr. Good Looking Guard Boy.”

Blinky pressed his lips against Arthurs, as the next song began to play. 

_Maybe they could stay there a little while longer, listening to each other’s heart beat._ It wasn’t something you could hear from a distance, unless one were to close their eyes, and feel its rhythm.


End file.
